Ubuntu and Chromium OS ported to Nexus 7

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Looking for a way to kill some time while you try to sell your 8GB Nexus 7 tablet and recoup a few bucks so you can purchase the new 32GB model? Why not have some fun installing an alternative operating system on your outmoded Nexus?

Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth recently announced that the Nexus 7 was going to be the reference design on which the company tweaks the Ubuntu experience for a more touch-friendly future. If you want to see how Ubuntu 12.10 runs on your Nexus 7, just grab the installer from Launchpad and then check out Canonical’s Wiki page for helpful step-by-step instructions.

There’s no need to worry about getting trapped, either. Canonical also offers directions on returning to stock Android once you’ve had your fun kicking (or is it flicking?) the tires on Ubuntu.

If moving from one full-featured OS to another doesn’t excite you, then how about dropping Android for something a bit more minimalist? Firmware hacker extraordinaire Hexxeh is back to his old tricks and has loaded up Chromium OS onto his Nexus 7. Why would you bother doing this when Chrome is already available from Google Play?

For starters, there are certain Chrome features that you can’t utilize on Android — like extensions and offline web apps, including Google Docs. But the most obvious reason to attempt the Chromium OS install on your Nexus 7 is because you just love tinkering with your devices.

Unfortunately, Hexxeh doesn’t feel comfortable handing out the image just yet. Once he’s had time to polish things up, however, you can expect something that’s a bit like the Chrome OS tablet experience that Google has been hinting at for quite some time.